Tuesday, February 26, 2013

today, my brother and his wife became parents. they welcomed their twins; a boy and a girl. i was so grateful to be able to be connected through text messaging, e-mail, and facebook. it is so hard to be so far away sometimes. i have been keeping them near my heart, and wearing this rainbow necklace all week. my brother made it for me when we were children, and i am lucky to still have it. love you guys.

Monday, February 25, 2013

i wanted to put together a little embroidery gift for a young friend of ours. my mother gave me her entire massive collection of embroidery floss, so i have plenty to share. i worked on cutting out these little bobbins (aren't they great?), and filling them. also included in the gift: another sheet of bobbins to cut out, scissors, needle, hoop, and a large piece of linen. the two above are the start of colden's own collection.

Saturday, February 23, 2013

we couldn't resist adding to our flock recently, with two little buff orpingtons and two even smaller barnevelders. we have never had buffs, but i've heard they are great. and we lost our last barnevelder to a wild beast of some sort before she started laying. she was a beauty, with pretty greenish black feathers. we do have two hens that are laying, but i can't for the life of me remember what kind. maybe one ameraucana? anyhow, one is white and grey and lays brown eggs (we think), while the other is tawny-colored and lays greenish-grey eggs (though it might be the other way round actually). avert your eyes, o ye squeamish, for today i saw said brown chicken spontaneously lay an egg with no shell and then proceed to eat it. i let the dogs chase her away from her egg-eating temptation (the dogs are pretty good chicken herders if you are watching them), but i guess it is not so uncommon for a chicken to eat its own egg. i have never heard of one coming without the shell though! the little chicks are in the coop in a separate enclosure. we were hoping to sneak them under some broody hens, but the urban farm store warned us the hens might not adopt them so readily (indeed, that caramel-colored hen has been pecking at them). hopefully, they will warm up to one another!

Friday, February 22, 2013

Thursday, February 21, 2013

this photo is from last week, so i am quite a bit further on the sweater. barely touched the book though, it was recommended by colden's preschool teacher and looks quite fascinating. it is the diary of a little girl from oregon, who wrote it when she was six. i'll have to let you know more when i get into it! hoping to get a few more projects on the needles soon though! joining ginny's yarn along...

i cut, and marc assembled these little houses as a valentine's treat the next day. i cut one little chocolate heart out of a bar for each kiddo, tucked inside. when colden received his, he immediately wanted to make the little house himself, so we printed off another. and then, of course, another for azie.

Saturday, February 16, 2013

i love, love, love how these bags turned out. i did not love three failed practice attempts, an awol zipper-foot crisis, a mad dash for new (longer) zippers, and the emotional state i worked myself into surrounding their completion (which i owe in large part to marc's cutting assistance). still, now i think i want to make more. yes. yes, i am crazy.

p.s. i found this tutorial to be a lifesaver as well, did you know you can trim any zipper to suit your project? it also gets the zip out of the way for sewing! now i will be unstoppable.

Tuesday, February 12, 2013

Monday, February 11, 2013

i made this yellow submarine for our over-the-mantle mirror for colden's birthday. after getting it to print poster-sized, i traced it, and cut it and traced it, and then figured out i could draw on top of the printout very firmly so the lines would show.

i went over the lines with a sharpie, and then colden colored in the rest with colored permanent markers. he also cut out most of the body (i did the fussy periscopes).

Friday, February 8, 2013

Wednesday, February 6, 2013

colden received this amazing, cashmere, handmade sweater from his best friend. my favorite part, besides the star, the cashmere, and the sweet friends who made it! - is that it will fit through the next cold season too. isn't it just perfect?

Monday, February 4, 2013

we are preparing for colden's fifth birthday, and made these recycled star crayons for our party bags. it was a surprising amount of work, but i think it was worth it. multicolored star crayons! (note: if you choose to do this craft, be sure you are using the oven-safe variety of silicone, and not an ice cube tray. oops.)